Name OrderJapanese names consist of a family name, followed by a given name. In
the West, Japanese names are normally written in the reverse order. For
example, the author Kawabata Yasunari is known in the West as Yasunari
Kawabata. Note that some authors in the West use the Japanese format.

Family Names (Surnames)Commoners were not allowed to use family names until after the Meiji
Restoration of 1868, when they were allowed to create a surname or borrow
an existing one. Family names usually are written with two Chinese
characters (kanji), which may or may not have related meanings. For
example, "Yamamoto" means "base of the mountain."
However, some surnames consist of one or three or more characters. Because
there are thousands of kanji and thus millions of possible combinations,
Japan probably has more family names than any other country.

Given NamesThe number of possible given names is practically limitless. Some names
are exclusively female or male, while others can be either. Note that some
names (e.g., Jun) have many different meanings, depending on the kanji
used to write it.

Female Given NamesFemale names usually, but not always, end in "ko," which means
child. Common female names include Akiko (Autumn Child), Haruko (Spring
Child), Jun'ko, Keiko, Kiyoko, Michiko, Natsuko (Summer Child), Sachiko,
Yoshiko (Good Child), and Yukiko (Snow Child). Note that all names ending
in "ko" are not necessarily female. For example, the male name
Norihiko.

Male Given NamesMale names sometimes indicate the order of birth, using the suffix -ro,
the counter for sons. For example, Ichiro (first son), Jiro (second son),
Saburo (third son), Shiro (fourth son), Goro (fifth son), and so on.
Common male names include Hiroshi, Ken and its many variants (Kenji,
Ken'ichi), Yoshi, etc.